


Batman Villain Idea: Viro.

by Mellowix



Category: DC - Fandom, DC Comics, OC - Fandom, Superhero - Fandom, Supervillain - Fandom, Villain - Fandom, comic - Fandom, comics - Fandom
Genre: Comics, DC comics - Freeform, Gotham, OC, OC bio - Freeform, Supervillain, bio, dc, superhero, villain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23116228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mellowix/pseuds/Mellowix
Summary: Gotham seems to bring out the worst of the Human psyche. It's inevitable that someone or something will want to experiment with the residents of this cursed city. When his foe isn't human, Batman can't reply on violence to defeat it - Especially when it lurks within the heads of his closet friends. A Mind parasite. Neither evolved or artificial, Viro came into existence from a rare natural phenomenon. Burdened it's own unstable structure, Viro must find it's place in Human Society, either as a civilian or a villain.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Batman Villain Idea: Viro.

Legal Name: MP 1. (Short for 'Mind Parasite #1', as it's the first discovered of its species)

Nicknames: Viro (Preferred name.) "Strings of Gotham", The Plucker/Pluck. (What the inmates of Arkham call Viro.)

Species: Mind Parasite. An "electricity based" life-form that appears to be like "a cloud of free flowing sentient electricity that glows a bright blue .".

They're neither artificial or naturally evolved. Instead, they come from a rare natural phenomenon that consequently gives rise to a conscious creature. When a body's cell loses its ability to divide, it's simply left to die. However, as a consequence of intelligent life, a body cell might smartly attempt to save itself by leaching off other body cells, collapsing into a cluster - The opposite of a cancerous tumour. If this happens in the Brain, the cluster could potentially become a separate consciousness from its original body. Disconnected from a digestion system, it can only gain nourishment by forcing more nerve endings to join it - Needing to 'leap' from the body to body to do so. This gives rise to a Mind parasite, which can arise from any intelligence species on any planet. 

They prey on the nerve endings of brains, usually favouring a certain species to feed on - Learning their behaviour from its hosts. They need to be in a host's body at all times. Exposure to the outside world will cause them to 'evaporate'. However, with training, they can extend the amount of time outside of a body without dying. Due to its gas structure, Viro is immune to bacteria and viruses, since they have no solid surface to latch onto. However, occasionally, Mind Parasite can trick themselves into symptoms behaviours, if sick host's mind is allowed to influence it too much.

Age: Unknown. (Behaviour/Maturity level dependent on its recent hosts. It's estimated Virow has had self-awareness for 5 years, though he could have potentially existed longer.)

Gender: Sexless (Though does get gender characteristics from its hosts, mostly Human males and females.)

Hero/Villain: Supervillain.

Height: 6"6' (Average height of exoskeleton. But those vary due to Viro having multiple of them.)

Weight: 24.6 kg (Average weight of exoskeleton. But those vary due to Viro having multiple of them.)

Professions: It could loosely be considered a "Psychotherapist" at Arkham Asylum. With Viro's ability to control someone's brain, Viro is used to alter an inmate's dangerous behaviour. However, Viro is a last resort and closely monitored whenever it is used. If Viro goes out of line, even slightly, it will be given a painful electric shock. Viro is reserved for Supervillains beyond the help of human psychiatrists, such as the Joker.

Every few months, Viro is shipped to the Blackgate prison to execute inmates on death row. Due it's abilities, Viro can shut down the brain while numbing pain receptors and stress levels, providing a painless death. Viro is only one of the options, besides the traditional firing squad, gas chamber and lethal injection. Many inmates are still wary to accept a Mind parasite, but it's steadily getting more popular. Besides from those official duties and being used for research, authorities can't allow Viro to take part in many activities, as casual assess to humans is strictly prohibited due to high-risk factors. Since it can't have physical contact with people besides official jobs, it's kept occupied with books, TV shows and films. Though when escapes its confinement, Viro is known to be involved with numerous criminal activities.

When Viro first got the exoskeletons, it attempted to integrate into human society as a law-abiding citizen. As one of the few ways it could legally feed on Humans, Viro was allowed to live at a Hospice, euthanising patients on their death beds. In exchange, it numbed pain receptors and brought up any emotion/memory the patient requests. However, after Viro concluded it could only exist in human society as a criminal, it lost the privilege to work with innocent people. Now Viro can only be used on criminals to mentally treat or execute them.

Appearance: The first of Viro's exoskeleton was created by the Strange Hugo Strange - Made with the strong and transparent plastic in the shape of an average human, with the joints designed to mimic human movements as well. Within the exoskeleton is the artificial nerve system, disconnected from any pervious living being, so Viro can have complete control of it. It's overall quite a simple structure, mostly hollow on the inside and has no details on the Plastic shell, not even a face. The thick plastic can block the average handgun or knife, but more advanced weapons have been known to breakthrough. The dangerous part for Viro, comes in whether an opponent can sever the artificial nerve endings inside the exoskeleton. If so, Viro's true gas-based form will 'leak' out into the outside world, which is like acid to it.

Since then, Viro has been forced to create new exoskeletons itself as they can get damaged or destroyed. Though it does favour Strange's original design, replicating whenever it creates a new exoskeleton. However, materials of them vary depending on what's available at the time; from plastic to Titanium and even scrap metal. Though it perfers to use lightweight materials to give it increased ability.

Viro itself, without a host, appears as a 'free-flowing blue energy'. Since it doesn't have its own physical body, Viro needs the exoskeleton or a host's body to survive. Without a body, Viro would slowly evaporate. When it's in Arkham, they will fit a shock collar around Viro's "neck" to keep it under control.

Personality: Has no fixed or permanent personality. When Viro leaves a host's body, it just doesn't leave with their memories but small personality traits as well. So Viro has a forever changing personality, which can make it very unpredictable. Though has a limited world experience, as it's never gone outside of Gotham since it gain self-awareness. Due to this, it's prone to make mistakes, mainly with concepts Viro hasn't dealt with yet. The only traits that seem to remind consistent is; high-intelligence, willing to wait a long time to what it wants, genius knowledge of human psychology, able to predict behaviour with deadly accurately if said-person has been a former host/victim, willing to go to extreme lengths to get a specific piece of knowledge and sometimes uses behaviour outside of human 'social norms' to intimate.

When Viro was first captured, it seemed to lack awareness of what species it was. It even displayed identity issues of whether it was human or not. As far as Scientists/Governments are aware, Viro is the only spermine of a Mind parasite, though it's unluckily for Viro to be the only one of its species. With some reported sightings of other ones that have yet to be confirmed. But because of this, Viro has been observed to have behaviour akin to loneliness, when kept in isolation for long periods.

Without access to other Mind Parasites, humans are Viro's only other alternative. Though with common rejection/signs of disgust from humans, Viro has experienced confusion on what is it/where it belongs. However, these issues have toned down after Scientists explained their findings to Viro of its species. Now it's thought that Viro has the goal of finding other Mind parasites. Until then, Viro continues to use humans for satisfying it's needed for socialization. It's thought this need for socialization, has come from the fact human are social animals and Viro has picked this up from its mostly human hosts.

Powers/Skills: Viro's "superpowers" are not officially considered powers because they are natural to the species. When it comes to physical combat, Viro is lacking. Though it can easily overpower an average person, when it comes to more powerful foes like Superheros and other Supervillains, Viro struggles. With no training or specific fighting style, Viro must rely on instinct and improvisation in a fight. Through Viro does have memories/experiences from it's more skilled hosts - having memories of an action but physically pulling it off is something else entirely.

However, Viro's true powers come when it manages to get into your brain. So it's crucial to keep Viro away from your face or it can "climb" into your brain through your nose, ears or mouth. Once inside of your brain, it can do a massive range; Take control of you, control your bodily functions like breathing/healing, be the little voice inside your head, erase certain memories (Can erase someone's whole memories but it takes a long time to do this), find out your deepest secrets, stimulate emotions etc. Literally anything the brain controls within the body, is under Viro's command. 

Since Viro is physically inside your brain/nerve system, it's much deeper and deadlier than any telekinetic attack. The power level of the host is mostly irrelevant as Viro turns their own body against them. Unless they have a way to physically alter/reach their brain and Viro, there's no way to get rid of it without outside forces. No amount of will-power can combat Viro's influence over its host. As long as it has enough energy to spare, Viro can remind in someone's head for a long time, it's limits reaching 4 weeks. When Viro decides to feed, it completely consumes the brain, making the top of the head shrivel up, becoming flat, like this (From Doctor Who: 'Time Heist'.), which instantly kills most humans. The disadvantage to this is that Viro becomes trapped in a host that can't move and has no food left. Unless it can reach a new living host or one of its exoskeletons, it will be stranded and could face starvation.

Though Viro hasn't explored the possibilities yet, it's theoretically capable of healing its host's bodies medically, not just mental illness. Since Viro has a unique perspective of being physically inside the body, it could be taught/trained to identify internal injuries/diseases. From there, Viro could use it's control of bodily functions, including white blood cells, to guide the body to self-heal. Though Viro would need the necessary medical knowledge beforehand from an expert, either by being it's a previous host or supervising Viro.

Viro also can split itself into smaller pieces, able to have multiple hosts at once. However the smaller the fragment, the less power it will have. While the fragments are technically separate entities, they all have identical memories/goals, so can predict and work together as a team flawlessly. Once they've completed their separate tasks, they have an overwhelming instinct to refuse. If Viro were to find a completely separate Mind Parasite, they could also become one entity.

Another advantage to being able to switch from host to host, is the stealth advantage. By controlling the person's movements, it can travel around in plain sight. And for a quick getaway, Viro can even use animals like birds and mice. But this puts Viro at risk of picking up animal habits, so only uses this as a last resort. At the same time, due to Viro's feedings leaving the distinctive mark on a shrunken head, it's easy to identity if it's in the area. Therefore, Viro must be careful not to leave a clear trail of it's consumed victims, person or animal.

Due to Viro being a 'gas-based' life form, it can manifest its body into any space it wants. It can use this in serval way, like; visually showing a memory/scene to people without needing to go into their heads. It can also morph it's body into a certain face, like the face of a dead person as a manipulation/intimidation method. However, those shapes are purely visual, with Viro being unable to change the texture or colour of its body, only thw shape. So every visible still has the blue colouring and electricity texture. Viro can also mimic those of its studies, which includes voices and behaviours. Sometimes using them to lure people to it.

While it's easy to assume Viro has connections with Psychic forces - It has little to no crossover, since Viro based more in the Physical plane, even if its abilities have similar effects on people's minds. In fact, Psychics who have attempted to use their powers on Viro, have described it as "Unreadable jumble of minds", vertically making Viro immune to psychics. Similarly, in the realms of the supernatural, it's uncertain if Viro has it's own unique soul as a fusion of separate animal electrical nerves. If so, Viro has can't interact with the afterlives, with spiritual entities also being unable to harm it.

Weaknesses: Due to being a gas-based creature, physical combat such as punching and kicking, won't affect Viro, going right through it. Though physical combat is still able to damage its exoskeleton, which is usually made from light yet flimsy martials (Though occasionally are made from strong metals). There are also serval weak points to the exoskeleton, for example, the rods/joints that hold the entire structure together. If you cause it to crack or split, which you could do with a well-placed bullet, Viro will be exposed to the outside world, which is like acid to it.

As an amalgamation of nerve messages, Viro is structurally just electricity, so it's effected by all the Scientific reactions that go with it. So it's still effects by: extreme temperatures, different types of waves such as sound waves, reactive elements, etc. Its worst weakness by far being electricity.

Due to Viro experiencing its victim's memories, thoughts and emotions all first-hand, it risks Viro forming an emotional connection with its victims. This is risky as if it can stop Viro from feeding properly because it would kill the host in the process, which Viro may be reluctant to do due to its emotional connection. 

Within it's exoskelton, Viro can only able to see and hear, but doesn't have other senses of smell and touch. Due to this, it can't detect dangers such as; sudden temperatures rise or any harmful gases. The only way for Viro to pick those type of things up is when they cause it physical pain.

Goals:  
-After getting the free-range of the Physical world with its new exoskeleton, Viro aims to gain as much knowledge as possable. It currently does by experimenting on Gotham's population, specially criminals. It approaches the world is an almost 'child-sense of wonder', sometimes doing it's actions simply because it's amusing, the equivalent of someone killing ants with a magnify glass.

\- To gain enough worldly experience, knowledge and confidence to explore outside of Gotham. 

-To become more powerful by fusing with more Mind parasites. Viro isn't sure if it was willing to force the other Parasite to fuse with it anyway if it refuses.

\- Expanding its abilities to get into the minds of; Plants, Machines, Non-physical entities, Extra-dimensional beings etc.

Crimes/When it free:

Viro usually committees its crimes as an individual, rarely working with anyone willing. Seeing humans as things to experiment with, not to ally with as equals. With more gullible gangs/criminals, Viro will only ally with them for the extra muscle/protection and to have easy access to them, if it wants to experiment with them. Through on occasional, it has been known to work with Gotham's most notorious villains like Clayface, Joker, Two-face etc. because they're some of the rare humans Viro actually respects. But only if they have something worthwhile to offer it. For example, if Viro is helping with a bank heist, it can easily assess the codes by going to the mind of a society guard.

Viro most commonly recorded crimes are abduction, murder/'Eating' (Most commonly random bystanders Viro feeds on as he likes to keep the more interesting 'subjects' alive.), mental torture, the cause of many brain damage and mental illness cases, leaking of private information to the public to ruin a person's life, trespassing, breaking and eventing to reach its victim, the occasional theft of certain objects that may be important to a person or materials to help Viro build a new exoskeleton.

However, Viro's full criminal record will probably never be known due to the ability to remind anonymous, hidden in plain sight while inside someone's head. A lot of people, including the authorities will never know which crimes were caused by Viro's manipulation. The only tell-tale signs of Viro activities is if; there are exoskeletons found hidden a certain area (they're usually used if Viro's plan fails and needs a 'get-away body'), bodies with consumed brains are found, someone sees a 'bluish-green light jumping from one person to the other' that only lasts a slight second and if Viro makes a mistake and allows it's host to act out of character.

People, such as Batman, have learned the different quirks and signs of someone who is infected by Viro. However, those signs are very subtle and only experts able to spot them.

Official statement/advice from Gotham police:

'If any of those signs are found, it's advised authorities to notified immediately. While waiting for help, make sure to avoid anyone who you suspect to be infected by Viro. You should insolate yourself in a small locked room, where it or any of its human hosts can't reach you. If you find yourself face to face with Viro, make sure to cover up your nose, ears and mouth at all times with anything you can find. Likes to talk, but don't engage with it in conversation, as it will use many manipulation tactics to try and trick you. Ignore it, make sure to keep face covered and focus on getting out of the trapped area. Unlikely, but if Viro attempts to engage you in physical combat, roll into a tight ball and don't move. Do not try to fight it. As it will give Viro more opportunities to get into your brain.

However we would like to remind you, that Viro is still only one creature, and the likely hood of ever coming into contact with it is very unlikely. Viro tends to target criminals and generally has little interest in going after everyday citizens.'

Many criminals have used Viro as an excuse for their behaviour but serval scientific have been developed to test if a Mind Parasite has been inside someone's brain. However, the results of those tests aren't always accurate, only working about 80% of the time. Especially if it's been a long time since Viro last left the body.

Containment: When Viow was first captured, there was much debate on where it should be held. It wasn't human but it was also a new unique species with great potential. Though, it was decided that a research facility wouldn't secure enough to hold Viro safely. So it was finally decided that the best place to hold it was Arkham Asylum, due to the asylum already holding inmates such as Clayface and Mr.freeze, that need specialised cells. But also because they want to keep Viro in Gotham City as the criminals there are mostly just humans and if Viro were to get inside of their brains, it wouldn't be a world threat.

Viro is held in the lower underground levels of Arkham, well away from any of the patients. Its cell is a small plain room with the walls and floors coated with metal and the far wall made from thick glass. There isn't any furniture such a bed as Viro doesn't need sleep. On the ceiling is a trap door, where they spend down dying animals such as mice and rats for Viro to feed on.

One thing that makes Viro so hard to control, is the fact you can never be sure you have "all" of Viro. As it can separate itself and infect multiple hosts at once. However, a piece can't afford to remain separated for too long or it could face starvation.

If you must enter the Viro's cell, special protective gear must be worn, so Viro cannot enter your mind. As a bare minimum, the face must be covered. If Viro is found to be inside someone's brain and refuses to get out, Viro can always be "extracted" but it's a dangerous and painful process for both the host and Viro.

Currently, a more specialised cell is being developed for Viro. Based upon its own Exoskeletons, it's an enlarged version; a glass tank embedded into a wall with artificial nerve system hanging inside, where Viro's electrical form can be store within. Designed to have the ability to have tight control of the environment inside the tube. Through testing, Scientists are hoping to find the right conditions, for Viro to be safely contained without one of his exoskeletons, which gives Viro a dangerous advantage over the average person.

Relationships:

Toward Superheros: Many Superheros (Especially the Justice League) are wary of Viro as if it's able to get into the head of a powerful metahuman like Superman or Wonder women, the effects could be devastating. Possibly an effective weapon against the most powerful animal beings. When Viro inside an exoskeleton or weak host, it's not much of a threat. However, when it's inside the Brain, the Host's own body is used as a weapon against them. Even heroes like Superman would be affected by that. It's believed Viro holds much sensitive information, including Superhero's true identifies, due to having numerous high-profile hosts. Though it prefers to keep this information to itself as its goal is to experiment, not to destroy.

Yet despite the possible threat, Viro seems content with Gotham for the time beings, rarely venturing outside of it. It considers the city as the perfect microcosm of the wider world, so uses it as a 'training ground'. So hasn't proven to be much of a problem outside of Gotham. The main Superhero Viro interacts with is Batman. Unlike many of his Supervillain enemies, Viro has no extreme hatred or obsession with him. More concerned about being able to experiment, Viro takes a secretive approach to its crime spree, so encounters Batman less than most villains. In fact, Viro considers the Dark Knight a necessary factor to maintaining Gotham's "limbo state" - So Viro can stay until it's ready to go into the outside world, without the worry of the environment changes. Such as keeping Viro itself and it's most interesting hosts alive in Arkham, rather than killing them.

Viro and Batman have a reluctant tolerance of each other, having a 'Let's get this over with' attitude when they fight. Viro never goes out of its way to kill or torture the hero. As a creature that spends it's life observing minds, killing or seriously harming its hosts has little benefit. Even keeping Batman's true identity a secret, thinking its experiments would be interrupted if the information was leaked. If given a good enough reason, Viro may even ally with Batman. On Bruce Wayne's side, he feels on a sense of reasonability over Viro, especially since he allowed it to gain self-awareness. Getting irritated whenever someone "unnecessarily" gets involved with Viro, thinking he should personally deal with it.

Toward Supervillains: Like heroes, many villains won't trust Viro because of how difficult it is to control. Many villains even fear Viro, for its ability to be in your head, slowly changing you and the way you think, all without you knowing it. However, the few Supervillains with guts to take on Viro as an ally, have found great uses for it.

Supervillains, especially the unstable ones, are Viro's most targeted group. As it considers them to have the most interesting minds to experiment with. The only supervillain Viro will never touch is the Hugo Strange as it feels grateful towards him for freeing him into the physical world. The Inmates of Arkham have come to know Viro as the Plucker ("Pluck" for short), named after the way Viro seems to slowly pick at your mind during "treatment".

Other facts: 

Viro doesn't need to sleep. But it does have a similar state, where it will remain immobile for serval hours or even days, sorting through its collected memories and thoughts. Unlike sleep, Viro still keeps a slight awareness of its surroundings and go in and out of it willingly.

When Viro talks normally (when it's not mincing anyone), it sounds as if a middle-aged woman and man are speaking in unison.

Backstory: For the longest time, Viro wasn't aware of its own existence - Always assuming it was the same entity as its host. Viro was barely recorded by the Scientific community, dismissed as an unusual 'disease' which only effected one person at a time. So members of the general public could never hope to hear about it. Only a handful of geniuses considered the possibility it was more than a 'rare mental illness' - So when Viro coincidentally found itself in Gotham, Batman and Hugo Strange were among them. One case after the other, people with no previous history, were gaining seemingly random mental illnesses before their whole brain withered away. With so few medical recordings, hospitals could do little. However, like most areas, Viro's presence remained mostly uncovered by the Media. After all, serval people dying of rare illnesses wasn't very Newsworthy in most cases. Though the keen eye of Batman wasn't so dismissive. Since the crime was his expertise, he could only monitor it unless it was proven as a supervillain's plot.

But then it suddenly became more personal - With Alfred Pennywise becoming Viro's next host. Knowing his old friend so well, Batman eventually picked up on small quirks Alfred never used to do. When Alfred started having seizures, it was the final straw, Batman did a full-investigation. First theorising it was a psychic, he contacted serval Justice League allies who could track that specific power signature. Yet, no one could find anything. Searching other possibilities, Batman concluded the entity affecting Alfred, was physically inside his brain.

Cornering the effected Alfred in the Bat Cave, Batman finally directly addresses the possessor, revealing he knew there was a second person inside his butler's head. Though it became obvious the mysterious creature hadn't gained self-awareness yet, struggling to use the correct pronounces for itself, asking questions such as 'I'm not him?'. With Batman putting this massive revelation onto Viro, it fled via latching onto a bat swarm, flying away from the Batcave.

Having an existential crisis, Viro carelessly went to the closet Human host it could find, a homeless woman, while it tried to figure out everything. This lead to the women acting suddenly out of character, which the locals defiantly noticed. The Super Villain, Hugo Strange was able to observe this and prove his suspicions. Seeing an opportunity to experiment on a unique creature, Strange kidnapped the Women and Viro. First, he isolates Viro from a Human body, Strange extracted and placed it into an exoskeleton of his design. Next, Strange attempted to see how long Viro could last in the outside world. Just then, the Dark Knight crashes in, knocking Strange out and returning Viro to its stabilising exoskeletons.

Trying to make sense of its situation, Viro makes Batman its next host to get the answers its wants. Using the Dark Knight's nerve system against him, Viro paralyses him, locked up in an abandoned building. Keeping Batman on life support, Viro spends the next serval weeks, just trying to make sense of the new world it was exposed to. Despite Strange's mistreatment of it, Viro ends using the exoskeleton when it wasn't searching Batman's brain for information. Despite his dealings with Scarecrow, Batman had never experienced a mental invasion so deep, going far beyond the obvious death of his parents. Viro able to bring up thoughts from his subconscious even he wasn't aware of.

Yet after much discussion between the two, Viro agreed to free Batman, promising it can find a place in human society. Despite knowing he was Bruce Wayne, Viro intended to keep it secret, mutually respecting him for discovering its existence. Though also wanting to keep Bruce's life in a controlled environment, intending to experiment with him in the future. Before they went their separate ways, Viro asked the hero to name it. Somewhat resentful, Batman came up with 'Viro' from 'Virus', similar to how Supervillains were named. Though Viro still accepted it, just relieved to have its own identity.

Viro presented itself to the Gotham authorities. There was much debate on what to do with this newly discovered creature. But with strings pulling from a certain person, Viro ended up in working in a Hospice - Able to feed itself and bring comfort to dying patients. However, it was not ideal.

Many people it was meant to help rejected Viro out of fear. Also, it had many restrictions, unable to even leave the Hospice, when it felt like it had much more potential.

Unfortunately, the life Viro was building up for itself was soon shattered. Recently euthanising a young boy, the mother became convinced her son could on live through Viro. Which was only a half-truth, as Viro's nourishment, the boy's consciousness would eventually be burnt out like any food energy - The nerve endings would last four weeks more than the rest of the body. The mother wouldn't give up though, trying to get Viro legally announced a human in court. Some even argued Viro was the most human out there, having assessed to different people's prospectives. This attracted the wary attention of Batman, knowing too well what this could lead to. Sneaking into the Hospice, Batman asked the Mind Parasite what it planned to do.

Deeply conflicted, it wasn't entirely certain. Sure, it behaved identical to humans, but that was because it was literally an amalgam of consumed Human nerve endings. It felt wrong for a Mind Parasite to apart of Human society, when Humans were it's main prey. If it was declared legally human, Viro would atomically be a cannibal due to its natural diet, which felt... Wrong. Then there was the mother herself. She was trying to force Viro to be someone else. As a human, Viro couldn't fully use its natural abilities. Even if Viro hadn't met another one of its species, it wasn't ashamed and most comfortable as a Mind Parasite. It made its decision. It wasn't Human.

At the end of the court sessions, it was ruled in Viro's favour, despite the Mother's pleas. On the Courthouse steps, mysterious men grabbed Viro, taking it to a laboratory. The mother who had hired them, presenting Viro with a new exoskeleton that looked eerily similar to her son, begging it to allow for a court repeal. Having enough, Viro smashed the exoskeleton's face. Using its ability to split into pieces, Viro isolated the piece of the son's mind, throwing it at the mother's feet. An ironic gesture, as though the mother technically got what she wanted, the piece was exposed to the outside world, evaporating right before the mother.

After everything, the Mother was arrested for theft of government property, not for kidnapping if Viro had been declared human. Viro itself was facing repercussions for its threatening behaviour towards the mother, not able to argue for self-defence. Convinced it could only exist in human society as a criminal, Viro broke out of its containment in the Hospice. When Batman went discover what it was doing, Viro asked him a simple question: Whatever Viro became, would he kill it since it wasn't legally human. The Dark Knight replies he's allied with many aliens - So if they're human enough, he won't kill them and Viro no exception.

That night, Viro took its first step towards villainy.


End file.
